Driving against traffic: Task Force to confiscate 18 more vehicles

LAGOS State Task Force said at the weekend that it is in the process of confiscating a total of 18 more vehicles once the owners already arrested and charged before a mobile court for driving against traffic were found guilty and properly sentenced.

Already, the Task Force headed by SP Olayinka Egbeyemi disclosed in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune by spokesman of the Agency, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, that a Honda car with registration no BDG 465 XL had been forfeited to the Lagos State government after the owner, one Mr Felix John pleaded ‘guilty’ to the offence.

Chief Magistrate Amos Olajuwon of the Lagos State Mobile Court, Oshodi presided over the case, with next trial of other arrested 18 motorists fixed for 7th of December, 2017 after they all pleaded ‘not guilty’ before the court.

All the 19 vehicles were impounded along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway in an operation by operatives of the Task Force led by its chairman, Egbeyemi.

Driving against traffic is contrary to Scheduled (1) item 27 of the Lagos State Road Traffic Laws of 2012, just as the prosecutor counsel, Barrister Olumide Ajibola, said the arraignment of 19 arrested motorists for the offence would serve as a deterrent to other road users across the state.

Speaking on the development, Egbeyemi expressed surprise that motorists, including private car owners, could be driving against traffic on a long expressway without fear of imminent collision against oncoming vehicles.

He confirmed that a total of 12 private car owners and 7 commercial bus drivers were apprehended during the enforcement operations, even as he pointed out that the on-going construction of ‘BRT Corridor’ along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway by the present government led by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was meant to decongest traffic gridlock around that area.

Egbeyemi, therefore, urged motorists particularly commercial bus drivers to desists from driving against traffic and obey different traffic signs conspicuously displayed by traffic officers along that axis, warning that any motorists arrested for driving against traffic in any part of the state would be charged to court